England to visit Alice Springs for Ashes tour match

Alice Springs will host an international cricket team for the first time in 13 years after Cricket Australia announced England would play a tour match there during the 2013-14 Ashes. Traeger Park is set to host a two-day game between England and the Cricket Australia's Chairman's XI on November 29 and 30 after the original venue, Manuka Oval in Canberra, had to withdraw due to scheduled resurfacing work.

The last time an international team played in Alice Springs was when the West Indies side led by Jimmy Adams played a one-day match there against a Northern Territory Cricket Association Invitation XI in November 2000. The England game will take place after the first Ashes Test in Brisbane and before the second Test at Adelaide Oval.

"When we were informed that Canberra could not host this year's Chairman's XI fixture, we wanted to bring the match to an iconic part of Australia," Andrew Ingleton, CA's executive general manager of game and market development, said. "Alice Springs, set against the backdrop of the MacDonnell Ranges, is an iconic part of our great country and an ideal setting for the game."

Matt Conlan, the Northern Territory's minister for sport and recreation, said it was exciting for the territory to be part of the Ashes battle.

"The Ashes is one of the biggest events in Australian sport and for Alice Springs to have a slice of the action in between the first and second Tests of this highly anticipated series is incredibly exciting," he said. "It's been 13 years since Traeger Park hosted an international cricket team and I'm delighted this drought we now be broken in November."